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More "Surprising Reasons I'm Getting an Apple Watch"

More "Surprising Reasons I'm Getting an Apple Watch"

March 25, 2015

Michael Wolfe, Medium:

If smartwatches had been invented first and we already took these interactions for granted, few of us would be clamoring for the smartphone to be invented so we can move those functions off of our wrist and onto a clumsier and more inconvenient form factor. Many people who have tried the Apple Watch have already reported they use their phone far less. Users Wearing Apple Watch Take iPhones Out “Far, Far Less”

I tried an experiment when the Apple Watch was announced: every time I took my phone out during the day or carried it with me in case I needed it, I asked myself if I would have if I had an Apple Watch with me. More then 90 percent of the time, I wouldn’t have.

I tried a similar experiment to see how many times I could get away with not having to use my iPhone over the course of a single day, and I wasn’t really surprised when it turned out to be quite a bit. I think that will be one of the big hallmark features of Apple Watch. We don’t really appreciate it now (and why would we? Apple Watch doesn’t actually exist yet), but I suspect after three to six months of constant wear, our behavior will be very different. As Wolfe points out in his post:

The Apple Watch doesn’t require you to stop what you are doing, switch it on, and unlock it each time you use it. It only takes a couple of seconds to get at your watch — you don’t even need to unlock it once it has already been unlocked the first time, as long as you don’t take it off.

Again, the implications of this are huge. Think about when you’re at the grocery store carrying bags in both hands. Imagine if you had to physically push open the front door to leave. Sounds crazy, right? The convenience of automatic doors is something most folks enjoy every single day. And they don’t even think about it. Apple Watch is asking you to start thinking about stuff like that. You have to imagine all the little annoyances you put up with as an unnoticed matter of course and then figure out how ridiculous that’s all going to seem in a year or two.

One day, you’re going to take Apple Watch for granted.

And I’m taking that for granted right here and now.